Miss-Delectable
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http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/57703
In a small, office-size classroom, four small chairs surround an irregularly shaped table. A sign written in green, blue and red letters over the white board welcomes the students to speech, just one of many classrooms waiting for the students to arrive.
One of those students, Taryn Ramos, grins as she enters the room. The teacher motions for Taryn to sit in one of the small chairs and places a worksheet on the table. Smiling widely, the teacher’s blonde curls bounce as she asks Taryn to “circle the picture that shows Fido in front of the front door,” using a louder than normal voice. Then Taryn is asked to repeat what she heard. It’s a listening comprehension game.
BYU graduate Teresa Davenport, a consultant and teacher for the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind, travels several hundred miles across Utah every week to teach students in preschool through high school who have partial hearing loss to deafness.
Taryn, a fourth-grader at Wasatch Elementary School, is one of her hearing impaired students. When Taryn was in preschool she only used sign language, but she now has a cochlear implant, a device that compensates for hearing loss. She uses her new listening skills in place of signing. Davenport meets with her an hour a week to check on her schoolwork and to help her with listening comprehension skills.
Because Davenport travels so much, there is no typical day, but there is a typical week. By the end of the week she has been to Mt. Pleasant, Price, Springville and Provo, visiting almost a dozen schools and helping more than 25 students. She also travels to the southern regions of Utah testing hearing abilities of students. The needs of each student are different and so are the learning activities. They play games, write stories, use flashcards and sometimes talk about how to read social cues, like recognizing the end of a conversation.
She said the hardest part of the job is driving to the remote areas, but the good outweighs the bad.
“I go out and I feel like I’m making a difference because those students really need a lot of support,” she said. “I think my favorite aspect is working with the students one-on-one. You get to see such great progress … When I’m teaching a concept or a new sign, and when they finally get it, it’s really rewarding. It makes me want to work harder.”
This love of teaching developed at an early age. Her mother, Mary Davenport, said when the children would play “school” her daughter was always at the front, teaching. Mrs. Davenport has Parkinson’s disease and said her daughter was like a second mother to her siblings.
Janette, her sister and roommate, said she was a good, but typical older sister who liked to take charge.
Davenport said she believes her passion for teaching came from growing up with a deaf brother and sister and seeing the positive and negative aspects of their education.
“It’s given me a different outlook,” she said. “Growing up, I felt my deaf brother and sister were getting a lot of attention from my mom. Working with students that have special needs, I can kind of see things differently … These students do need more help.”
Those childhood experiences have given her an edge, as well as a greater understanding of her students.
Her experiences have also helped shape her teaching style. Marilyn Madsen, program director for the Utah School for the Deaf South Division, described her teaching style as “very natural.” Her style is positive and demonstrates flexibility in meeting the needs of different students, she said.
“I was able to use a lot of the techniques I learned at BYU in the classroom … I learned how to simplify tasks … and to work on each step to achieve the whole,” Davenport said.
She said her BYU experience was practical, and that her classroom experience has taught her the importance of a teacher’s demeanor and patience.
“The best teachers I’ve known seemed really calm on the surface, but might not be feeling that way … I’ve realized students pick up on that, and I’m able to get a lot more across [by] keeping a calm demeanor,” she said. “Many times I have to teach a concept over and over. So I’ve learned to be more patient and … [to] have more creative lesson plans.”
At the end of the day, she said she feels she is making a difference by helping the students and training the other teachers and interpreters that work with the students.
“I guess a passion in my life is helping others,” she said.
In a small, office-size classroom, four small chairs surround an irregularly shaped table. A sign written in green, blue and red letters over the white board welcomes the students to speech, just one of many classrooms waiting for the students to arrive.
One of those students, Taryn Ramos, grins as she enters the room. The teacher motions for Taryn to sit in one of the small chairs and places a worksheet on the table. Smiling widely, the teacher’s blonde curls bounce as she asks Taryn to “circle the picture that shows Fido in front of the front door,” using a louder than normal voice. Then Taryn is asked to repeat what she heard. It’s a listening comprehension game.
BYU graduate Teresa Davenport, a consultant and teacher for the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind, travels several hundred miles across Utah every week to teach students in preschool through high school who have partial hearing loss to deafness.
Taryn, a fourth-grader at Wasatch Elementary School, is one of her hearing impaired students. When Taryn was in preschool she only used sign language, but she now has a cochlear implant, a device that compensates for hearing loss. She uses her new listening skills in place of signing. Davenport meets with her an hour a week to check on her schoolwork and to help her with listening comprehension skills.
Because Davenport travels so much, there is no typical day, but there is a typical week. By the end of the week she has been to Mt. Pleasant, Price, Springville and Provo, visiting almost a dozen schools and helping more than 25 students. She also travels to the southern regions of Utah testing hearing abilities of students. The needs of each student are different and so are the learning activities. They play games, write stories, use flashcards and sometimes talk about how to read social cues, like recognizing the end of a conversation.
She said the hardest part of the job is driving to the remote areas, but the good outweighs the bad.
“I go out and I feel like I’m making a difference because those students really need a lot of support,” she said. “I think my favorite aspect is working with the students one-on-one. You get to see such great progress … When I’m teaching a concept or a new sign, and when they finally get it, it’s really rewarding. It makes me want to work harder.”
This love of teaching developed at an early age. Her mother, Mary Davenport, said when the children would play “school” her daughter was always at the front, teaching. Mrs. Davenport has Parkinson’s disease and said her daughter was like a second mother to her siblings.
Janette, her sister and roommate, said she was a good, but typical older sister who liked to take charge.
Davenport said she believes her passion for teaching came from growing up with a deaf brother and sister and seeing the positive and negative aspects of their education.
“It’s given me a different outlook,” she said. “Growing up, I felt my deaf brother and sister were getting a lot of attention from my mom. Working with students that have special needs, I can kind of see things differently … These students do need more help.”
Those childhood experiences have given her an edge, as well as a greater understanding of her students.
Her experiences have also helped shape her teaching style. Marilyn Madsen, program director for the Utah School for the Deaf South Division, described her teaching style as “very natural.” Her style is positive and demonstrates flexibility in meeting the needs of different students, she said.
“I was able to use a lot of the techniques I learned at BYU in the classroom … I learned how to simplify tasks … and to work on each step to achieve the whole,” Davenport said.
She said her BYU experience was practical, and that her classroom experience has taught her the importance of a teacher’s demeanor and patience.
“The best teachers I’ve known seemed really calm on the surface, but might not be feeling that way … I’ve realized students pick up on that, and I’m able to get a lot more across [by] keeping a calm demeanor,” she said. “Many times I have to teach a concept over and over. So I’ve learned to be more patient and … [to] have more creative lesson plans.”
At the end of the day, she said she feels she is making a difference by helping the students and training the other teachers and interpreters that work with the students.
“I guess a passion in my life is helping others,” she said.